The Home of Australian Craft Beer

2 Brothers Brewery

One was working as a bullet-dodging physio in the Bronx, the other as a number-crunching aeronautical engineer in Seattle when the Ong brothers, Dave and Andrew, fell in love with the big flavours of the US craft beer scene. On returning to Australia, they struggled to find beers that satisfied their palates and decided to abandon their former careers and brew their own.

Andrew headed back to the US to gain hands-on craft brewing experience and source the best brewing equipment they could afford, Dave scoured southeast Melbourne in search of a suitable location. Six months later, the brothers purchased a gleaming, copper clad brewhouse from the bankrupt Times Square Brewery and shipped it over from the Big Apple in five 40ft shipping containers.

It now sits as the backdrop to their Moorabbin Beer Hall, one of Bayside's best kept secrets thanks to its location tucked away on an industrial estate. The Beer Hall was closed for a few weeks early in 2016 for a total refit, which included the installation of a new 15 tap system to allow the brother to pour even more beer and cider. There's a "leafy industrial beer garden" too and food trucks are a regular feature too.

Their regular lineup of beers features American brown and amber ales, a German style pilsner and delicious rice lager, while they also make a pear cider. Among their limited release specials is the Voodoo Porter, which walked away with the title of Best Victorian Beer at the 2010 Australian International Beer Awards, James Brown strong Belgian Ale, various hoppy drops and, usually around GABS, something big, rich and hearty. They've been regular collectors of trophies at the annual Australian International Beer Awards too.

Melbourne's southeast has become a thriving hub for microbreweries, but it was 2 Brothers who first brought craft beer to the region. And while you can find 2 Brothers beers widely across Victoria, the Beer Hall remains the best place to enjoy them, especially since its refresh.

The Regulars

Tapped Wed Jan 4 2012

While there are a multitude of breweries producing summer ales and IPAs for the warmer
weather 2 Brothers are offering their own summer session beer, but it's a little off centre
from the norm. Opting for a different summer direction, 2 Brothers have brewed up a Rice Lager to quench the thirst of Melbourne's south east. The beer itself is a simple solution to the rising mercury. A light, straw coloured lager that is crisp and refreshing all the way down to the bottom of the pint. The nose has some ···
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Tapped Thu Mar 24 2011

Having trained their beady eyes on various parts of Europe for recent seasonals, 2 Brothers have returned to the land that gave them the inspiration to start their own brewery in the first place: the US of A. The Grizz is an American Amber inspired by Mack and Jack's Amber from Redmond, Washington. Brewer Andrew Ong says it pours a deep red amber and is nicely hoppy, finished with Cascade and Amarillo.
This was originally a one-off release but is now a popular part of the brewery's year round range. ···
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Not a beer, but a pear cider, this has proved a winner for the 2 Brothers brewery, quickly cropping up on taps across Victoria. Light-bodied with a fragrant semi-sweet aroma with hints of vanilla in addition to the pear, it has a soft, dry finish, making it a crisp summer refresher. ···
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Not a reference to the 2l growlers you can fill with fresh beer at the brewery, but a full-flavoured American Brown Ale named after a chainsaw. A mix of American hops and dark fruits make up the aroma, while the flavour of this medium-bodied beer is dominated by malts, giving the Growler biscuity and toasted malt qualities. ···
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While the Pale Ales on offer from most Australian breweries tend to take their inspiration from the UK or America, 2 Brothers took a different route and decided to create a Belgian variant. That means you'll find all manner of fruity aromas - perhaps even a touch of vanilla - in a beer that mingles malt with dark fruits on the tongue too. ···
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The most accessible of the 2 Brothers range, this clean German style pilsner was designed to be a no-brainer. It has a soft malt character and a balanced bitterness, making it a quaffable session beer. ···
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Pale Yellow

Style

German Pilsner

The Specials

Tapped Fri Sep 4 2015

You have to love the generosity often found in the beer world. Late on Wednesday night, we received an email about a new beer from 2 Brothers that was going to be tapped at the brewery's Beerhall two days later. It was to be draught only (at least initially) but we thought we'd ask if there was any chance of getting a sample so we could list it on the website. Sixteen hours later, one of the brewery's reps rocked up at Crafty Towers with a hand capped bottle filled from one of the kegs complete with ···
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Tapped Thu May 28 2015

While the likes of their Taxi Pilsner, Growler and Grizz do much of the heavy lifting for 2 Brothers, they're probably as widely known around the beer world for some of their bigger, maltier treats. From the big Belgian James Brown to the trophy winning Guv'nor barley wine to a series of highly ranked GABS People's Choice beers with the sweeter toothed in mind, when they've aimed high, they've won fans.
For this year's GABS, they did just that again and create HazElla, an imperial brown ale featuring ···
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Tapped Thu Sep 18 2014

UPDATE (28/01/15): BOOM! is back for a second adventure in a slightly tweaked format. Andrew says BOOM! 2 saw the brewers "trying some new paraphernalia and a new hop separation technique. Unlike BOOM! 1, this batch is unfiltered, with 21 days of cold conditioning. Hope you like it."
THE ORIGINAL LISTING: Just the other day, it occurred to us that we hadn't seen a new beer from 2 Brothers in a fair while. Then: "BOOM!", one appeared. And it was literally: "BOOM!" as ···
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Tapped Thu Dec 5 2013

2 Brothers, the reigning Champion Small Australian Brewery, has taken a trip down Memory Lane for its latest limited release. The Trickster is a beer that has spent so long in hibernation, it predates The Crafty Pint Pint by 18 months or more. Those with long memories may recall one of their earliest beers; for everyone else it's a Mandarin Witbier (AKA a Belgian witbier brewed with mandarins) that was last brewed five years ago. Back then it was filtered before release, this time around head brewer ···
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Tapped Wed Jun 19 2013

If you were asked to name the most successful brewery in Victoria when it comes to awards, what would your snap answer be? It should be 2 Brothers, as the Moorabbin brewers have steadily and consistently been racking up major trophies at the Australian International Beer Awards for the past few years while packing the punters in at their brewery bar every Thursday and Friday. Having picked up trophies for their beers, this year they collected another - Best European Style Lager for the Taxi Pilsner ···
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Tapped Mon May 21 2012

What better way to mark 20 years holding the Australian International Beer Awards than to invite two of the most successful Australian breweries of recent times to make a beer together? For its landmark year, the RASV invited WA's Feral and Victoria's 2 Brothers to brew a beer using all Australian ingredients. The former was subsequently named Champion Large Australian Brewery at the 2012 awards, while 2 Brothers continued its run of form with a shortlisting for Champion Small Australian Brewery. ···
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Tapped Fri Nov 18 2011

A beer with an air of mystery surrounding it... Those that attended the last Victorian Microbrewery Showcase may have been intrigued by this African Amber Ale: what constitutes an African Amber Ale? It was suggested it may have been a yeast strain from deep within the Congo, but the truth of the matter could be just as enigmatic as the origins of the mother continent itself. To throw another spanner into the works the packaged version of this beer gives a nod to its little brother (the Rusty Pale ···
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Tapped Fri Sep 9 2011

The funk is back in town. One of 2 Brothers most eye-catching beers of 2010 is back for another run. The James Brown is their take on big Belgian browns, featuring a truckload of candi sugar and described last year as "bananas coated in Nutella" by one appreciative bar manager. As for this latest version, brewer Andrew Ong tells us they've deliberately reined in the estery notes this time around. They're "still there but better balanced" he says. It's already on at the 2 Brothers ···
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Tapped Thu Aug 4 2011

Ideally, we'd like to work the phrase "I'll be back" into this review, but as it's the first time 2 Brothers have released the beer, we might just have to wait until they make another batch next year. Instead, we'll have to console ourselves by telling you all about it, it being a German style doppelbock. According to brewer Andrew Ong: "We followed the traditional German naming convention of doppelbocks always end in the letters 'â?¦ator'" while the brew itself was apparently ···
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Tapped Mon Mar 7 2011

This 2 Brothers seasonal release has previously only been available in draught form - and, being based on the Oktoberfest beer style, usually timed to hit taps around October. Given the Oktoberfest beers were spawned from the German Mí¤rzen style - a strong lager brewed in March to last through the summer when hotter temperatures could affect brewing conditions back in the Middle Ages - it makes perfect sense to release some in March too. So here comes The Chief in bottled form (plus a few kegs). ···
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Tapped Thu Feb 10 2011

ON TAP TWO NIGHTS ONLY!!! We like it when the brothers go big. First there was the Voodoo Porter, weighing in around 7% and so good it won a medal at last year's Australian International Beer Awards. Then came the funk: James Brown, the big Belgian armed with 1000kg of candi sugar that won an army of fans and was described by Biero's beer man as "bananas coated in Nutella - awesome!". And now they're back with their biggest beer yet: The Guvnor. An English barley wine packing a whopping ···
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Tapped Fri Sep 17 2010

The Moorabbin bros have got the funk. Having gone all voodoo on us with their last limited release, this time they're getting up like a sex machine with James Brown, a rather large Belgian strong ale tipping the scales at 8.8%. Crafty's not had the chance to have a tipple yet, but 1 Brother tells us it's "brewed with 50% extra funk. Estery nose, with chocolate and peach up front, followed by rum, raisin and vanilla back palate. Over a thousand bucks of Belgian candi sugar went into the mix." ···
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Tapped Fri Apr 30 2010

The brewery's finest moment to date, this Autumn seasonal picked up the Premier's Trophy for Best Victorian Beer as well as a Gold Medal at the 2010 Australian International Beer Awards. And with good reason. It's an incredibly smooth, velvety take on Baltic Porter style of dark lager. Fall under its spell and discover liquorice, coffee and espresso notes aligned with rich chocolate, dark cherry and a touch of alcohol warmth. ···
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The Crafty Pint is an independent online magazine and resource for anyone interested in craft beer in Australia. We bring an honest, old-fashioned journalistic approach to beer's brave new world, telling stories because they're worth telling not because someone is paying us to write them.

Like many of the people who have changed the face of beer in Australia, we believe in authenticity, integrity, enjoyment and love. We hope to play a role in helping good beer, brewed by good people, find its way into the hands of more drinkers.